Archive for May, 2010

Someone from DCI Hunt's (Philip Glenister) past pays him a surprise visit to ask for his help. Photo copyright of the BBC

Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) is visited by a former adversary from his old stomping ground of Manchester. Journalist Jackie Queen (Ruth Millar) had several run-ins with Gene in the past and this time she has a surprise in store – she’s pregnant with his baby. Not one to miss out on a story, she’s also investigating the disappearance of northern teenagers that have arrived in London. She wants help to find one in particular – her niece Rachel (Kirsty-Leigh Porter) has run away and Jackie fears she’s been lured into the seedy underbelly of the capital. Alex (Keeley Hawes) is suspicious of Jackie. Also, with the threat of a transfer haunting Gene, Alex is desperate they get to the bottom of the corruption she believes is in the police force. But as the investigation progresses, evidence leads them to a man named Jarvis (John Bowe). On the surface he’s a legitimate business man, but they’re convinced he’s responsible for the murders of young girls. With an expensive lawyer and his smug demeanour, Jarvis appears untouchable and, worse, seems to have protection from within the Met itself. As the pressure mounts to find Rachel, the team is forced to acknowledge the force is being poisoned from the inside. Gene’s loyalty is tested as he and Alex are forced to put a stop to it, however messy the consequences. Episode Four airs Tuesday, June 1st @ 10:00 p.m. EST/PST on BBC America.

As noted above, photo copyright of the BBC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

MARKING a major expansion of its reality programming, the Syfy Channel has announced it is greenlighting three new reality series, Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen, Paranormal Witness and Face Off. This broad-based slate builds upon the success of the channel’s unscripted programming such as the Ghost Hunters franchise and Destination Truth on Wednesday nights, along with Syfy’s new Thursday reality block, which premieres July 15th.

In making the announcement, Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Content for Syfy/Co-head, Original Content for Universal Cable Productions, said, “We couldn’t be more excited to see these shows move forward. Whether it is pushing the scientific boundaries of cooking, immersing us in first-person accounts of paranormal encounters, or exploring the creative artists behind special effects make-up, each of these series underscores the increasing breadth of Syfy’s diverse brand.”

Ghost Hunters, the #1 paranormal investigative series on television, and Destination Truth – whose recently completed third season established series viewing records – rank among the most popular basic cable programs during Wednesday prime.

On Thursday, July 15th, Syfy launches the new reality block of Mary Knows Best at 9:00 p.m. EST/PST followed by Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files at 10:00 p.m. EST/PST.

MARCEL’S QUANTUM KITCHEN – Utilizing the science of cooking, Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen stars one of America’s most notorious chefs, molecular gastronomist Marcel Vigneron (Top Chef). In each episode, Marcel and his new catering and event company will be hired by a demanding client to produce an extraordinary celebration or event. Based on the client’s requests Marcel will dream up a theme and cuisine for the event, which range from a fairytale graduation party and a Goth-rock fashion show to a birthday dinner held on a platform suspended in mid-air. He and his team of party planners and chefs will tap the depths of their imagination and culinary talents to create everything from the immersive decor to a delicious menu that emphasizes Marcel’s brand of avant-garde cooking. Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen is a production of Intuitive Entertainment, and executive produced by Kevin Dill and Mechelle Collins.

PARANORMAL WITNESS – From Dimitri Doganis and Bart Layton, the acclaimed creative team behind Locked Up Abroad, this tense, cinematic, high-octane drama-documentary series brings to life the stories of people who have lived through paranormal experiences that defy explanation; from poltergeist to alien encounters. Using the mixture of intimate, firsthand testimony and gritty realistic drama that the producers are known for, Paranormal Witness will take the audience into a world turned upside-down by extraordinary and terrifying events. The series is a production of Raw TV, and executive produced by Dimitri Doganis and Bart Layton.

FACE OFF – This is a competition/elimination series exploring the world of special effects make-up artists and the unlimited imagination which allows them to create amazing works of living art. Not only will the show incorporate effects make-up, it will include a wide range of skill sets including prosthetics, 3-D design, animatronics, sculpting, eye enhancers, puppeteering, casting and molding. Each episode involves incredible reveals of the competitors’ finished work, and the drama of one contestant being sent home by the panel of expert and celebrity judges. It all culminates in one winner and one grand prize that will launch a career! Face Off is a production of Mission Control Media, and executive produced by Michael Agbabian and Dwight Smith.

THE Syfy Channel has inked award-winning director/executive producer Jack Bender as director/executive producer for the action-adventure 90-minute pilot Alphas (working title) from writers Zak Penn (X Men: The Last Stand, Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk) and Michael Karnow, it has been announced by Mark Stern, Executive Vice President of Original Programming, Syfy, and Co-Head of Content for Universal Cable Productions, which is the studio for the project. Bender just wrapped six seasons as an executive producer and director on the critically acclaimed series Lost, and directed last Sunday’s much anticipated series finale. Alphas is executive produced by Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun from BermanBraun Television and is slated to commence production in Toronto this summer.

Alphas follows a team of ordinary citizens who possess extraordinary and unusual mental skills. Using physical feats and uniquely advanced mental abilities, this unlikely team takes the law into their own hands and uncovers what the CIA, FBI and Pentagon have not been able or willing to solve. These gifted individuals must balance their quirky personalities and disparate backgrounds with their not always visible powers as they work to solve crimes, stop the ticking time bomb and catch the enemy.

“We are very excited that Jack has chosen to be part of Alphas,” said Stern. “His vision and expertise are perfectly suited to this project, and will truly elevate it.”

Bender is a film director, actor, television producer and screenwriter who has also directed such popular shows as The Sopranos, Carnivale, Alias and Boston Public. He is also an accomplished painter, sculptor and mixed media artist.

The beautiful and talented Julia Benson. Photo copyright of The Promotion People

MULTIFACETED performer Julia Benson is nominated for a 2010 Leo Award in the category of Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series for her recurring role as 2nd Lieutenant Vanessa James on the hit Sci-Fi series Stargate Universe. The Leo Awards honor the best in British Columbia film and television, with this year’s gala award ceremony taking place on Saturday, June 5th, 2010 at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver. For more information on the Leo Awards please visit www.leoawards.com

Julia’s popular recurring role on Stargate Universe allows her to play a versatile and engaging character – a woman who embodies a fighter and can hold her own, but also has a softer side and is able to reveal her vulnerability. The series follows a band of soldiers, scientists and civilians who must fend for themselves as they are forced through a Stargate when their hidden base comes under attack. The desperate survivors emerge aboard an alien spaceship, which is locked on an unknown course and unable to return to Earth. The danger, adventure and hope they find onboard the Destiny will reveal the heroes and villains among them. For more information on Stargate Universe visit http://stargate.mgm.com/view/series/3/index.html

Julia has amassed a list of impressive television and film credits throughout her acting career. Her small screen credits include guest-starring roles on the popular CBS miniseries Harper’s Island, the Fox comedy Reaper, the CW hit shows Supernatural and Smallville as well as Whistler and Masters of Horror.

Her recent film credits include the family comedy Mr.Troop Mom starring George Lopez and Jane Lynch. The actress also appeared in the comedy Blonde and Blonder starring Pamela Anderson, the romantic comedy Numb starring Matthew Perry, and the recent made-for-TV movie Lying to be Perfect, directed by Gary Harvey.

As noted above, photo courtesy and copyright of The Promotion People, so please no unauthorized copying and duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

DI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) and DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) head off to the crime scene. Photo copyright of the BBC

SPOILER ALERT!! – Animal rights activists have threatened a series of attacks in London and the first victim – the daughter of a commercial laboratory owner – is in hospital. Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) orders his team not to sleep until those responsible are behind bars. Their first stop is a prison where Robin Elliot (David Bradley), a known animal rights activist, is serving time for killing a scientist in the 70’s. Alex (Keeley Hawes) is convinced Robin knows about the planned attacks, but with no contact with the outside world, there doesn’t appear to be any way for him to be involved. Robin’s eerily prescient knowledge of the future makes Alex think he could be involved not only with the case, but also with her own fate. Having heard the voices of ambulance men, Alex worries that hope is fading for her survival in the present day. Gene skirts closely towards a dangerous conflict with Supermac (Roger Allam), who warns him to toe the line or face the consequences. As Alex fights for her life and Gene fights for his career, can they prevent more casualties before time runs out? Episode three airs Tuesday, May 25th @ 10:00 p.m. EST/PST on BBC America.

SUNDAY, May 23rd, 2010 will always be a bittersweet day for Lost aficionados, or “Losties,” as it marks the end of the long-running ABC series. Some lucky fans will have enjoyed the final 2 1/2 -hour episode at the Lost Finale Party at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, hosted by Michael Purcell of Global Cash Card. In early May, after 1900 seats for the event were snapped up in less than 30 minutes, Purcell made 10 additional tickets available from his Global Cash Card private stash of VIP seats, which included a private autograph signing by Lost Emmy award-winning star Michael Emerson (Ben). Those interested in the seats had to provide the reason why they deserved them at Twitter.com. The ten best reasons, which needed to be communicated in 140 characters or less, were judged by the Global Cash Card staff and announced on Friday, May 14th.

A fan of the TV show himself, Purcell’s sponsorship of his fellow Lost aficionados, Jay and Jack of “The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack,” show turned into hosting a “How Will It End? Video Contest,” and the production of the soiree featuring Michael Emerson. Fans flew in from all over the U.S. and as far away as Australia to attend the event and view the final episode together at the historic theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

“What started out as a personal passion for the show, turned into us hosting a ‘How Will It End?’ video contest,” laughs Purcell. “Next thing I knew I was watching video submissions and shopping for a 1970 Volkswagen van to restore into a Dharma Van for the grand prize giveaway for the best video submitted. We put up a website and contacted Michael Emerson to join us. In between meetings with my clients and pay card bank partners, I’ve been hunting down the last Apollo bars we could find in the U.S. to provide to fans in a customized commemorative Lost ‘Party Pak.'”

The event was purely an outpouring of interest within the Lost fan community and not affiliated with ABC-TV or the producers of the show. It centered around a viewing of the last episode, but also featured a live version of “The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack,” a cast Q & A session and those who submitted videos were gifted with specially created replicas of a 4-Toad statue as seen on the TV show. The Type 2 VW bus, complete with the two-tone Dharma blue and white, and a Dharma logo on the front, even features a classic 8-track tape player and a copy of the “Shambala” tape by Three Dog Night, exactly as seen on the program. And, as mentioned above, Purcell even created a commemorative Party Pak complete with a Dharma patch, Apollo bar, commemorative poster, Swan Station Fail-Safe Key replica and VIP “ahead of the line” pass.

Last week, Fox Television announced its fall 2010-2011 line-up, which includes the Sci-Fi family drama Terra Nova, which is currently slated as a mid-season replacement.

From executive producers Steven Spielberg, Peter Chermin, Brannon Braga (24, Star Trek: Enterprise) and David Fury (Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) comes an epic family adventure 85 million years in the making. Terra Nova follows an ordinary family embarking on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a massive experience to save the human race. In the year 2149 the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped, overcrowded and overpolluted. With the majority of plant and animal life extinct, devotion to science has brought mankind to the brink of destruction, but has also provided its only hope for salvation. Knowing there is no way to reverse the damage to the planet, a coalition of scientists has managed to open up a fracture in the space-time continuum, creating a portal to prehistoric Earth. This doorway leads to an amazing world, one that allows for a last-ditch effort to save the human race…possibly changing the future by correcting the mistakes of the past.

The series centers on the Shannon family as they join the tenth pilgrimage of settlers to Terra Nova, the first colony of humans in this second chance for civilization. Jim Shannon, a devoted father with a checkered past, guides his family through this new land of limitless beauty, mystery and terror. Jim’s wife, Elisabeth Shannon, is a trauma surgeon chose through a global lottery as a new addition to Terra Nova’s medical team. Josh Shannon is their son, mourning the girl he left behind, as he’s torn between two role models – his father and the charismatic Commander Frank Taylor, the leader of the settlement and the heroic first pioneer through the time portal. Maddy Shannon, Jim and Elizabeth’s teen daughter, is as independent and adventurous as her parents, but her distrust of authority soon leads her on a dangerous path. In addition to blue skies, rolling rivers and lush vegetation, Terra Nova offers new opportunities and fresh beginnings to its recent arrivals, but the Shannons have brought with them a familial secret that may threaten their citizenship in this utopia.

Additionally, these adventurers soon discover that this healthy, vibrant world is not as idyllic as it initially appears. The areas surrounding Terra Nova are filled with dangerous dinosaurs and other prehistoric threats as well as external forces that may be intent on destroying this new world before it begins. But perhaps even more threatening than what lies outside the protective walls is the Shannons’ realizationt that something sinister may be happening inside Terra Nova as not everyone on this mission has the same intentions of how best to save mankind.

The Doctor (Matt Smith) finds all is not well when he and his companions travel back to 16th century Venice. Photo copyright of the BBC

SPOILER ALERT!! – Desiccated corpses, terror in the canals and a visit to the sinister House of Calvierri – not things you would see on your typical Top Ten List of Things To Do When Visiting Venice, but they are what await Amy (Karen Gillan) and her husband-to-be Rory (Arthur Darvill) when the Doctor (Matt Smith) whisks them off in the TARDIS to 16th century Italy for a romantic mini-break. They discover that the city of Venice has been sealed to protect it from the plague, although Rosanna Calvierri (Helen McCrory) has other plans. The Vampires of Venice airs Saturday, May 23rd @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on BBC America.

The streets of Venice appear to be filled with some not-so-friendly locals. Photo copyright of the BBC

Earlier this week, NBC announced its 2010-2011 primetime line-up, which includes conspiracy, espionage and costumed crime fighting. Here are some of those highlights:

The Event is an emotional, high-octane conspiracy thriller that follows Sean Walker (Jason Ritter, The Class), an everyman who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his fiancée, Lelia (Sarah Roemer, Disturbia), and unwittingly beings to expose the biggest cover-up in U.S. history. Sean’s quest will send ripples through the lives of an eclectic band of strangers, including newly elected U.S. President Martinez (Golden Globe nominee Blair Underwood, In Treatment), Sophia (Emmy award nominee Laura Innes, ER), who is the leader of a mysterious group of detainees, and Sean’s shadowy father-in-law (Scott Patterson, Gilmore Girls). Their futures are on a collision course in a global conspiracy that could ultimately change the fate of mankind. Ian Anthony Dale (Daybreak) and Emmy winner Zeljko Ivanek (Damages) also star in this ensemble drama. The Event is a production of Universal Media Studios and Steve Stark Productions. Stark (Medium, Facing Kate) serves as executive producer, Nick Wauters (The 4400, Eureka) is creator/co-executive producer and Jeffrey Reiner (Friday Night Lights, Trauma) is the director/executive producer. Evan Katz (24) is also an executive producer. Check out http://nbc.com/the-event/ for more information.

NBC's Undercovers. Photo copyright of NBC

Acclaimed writer/producer/director J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Fringe, Lost, Alias) serves as co-writer, executive producer – and also directs – his first direction of a TV series pilot since Lost in Undercovers with executive producer/writer Josh Reims (Brothers and Sisters). Undercovers is a sexy, fun, action-packed spy drama that proves once and for all that marriage is still the world’s most dangerous partnership. Outwardly, Steven Bloom (Boris Kodjoe, Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion, Soul Food, Resident Evil: Afterlife) and his wife, Samantha (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Doctor Who, Bonekickers), are a typical married couple who own a small catering company in Los Angeles and are helped by Samantha’s easily frazzled younger sister, Lizzy (Jessica Parker Kennedy, Smallville). Secretly, the duo were two of the CIA’s best spies until they fell in love on the job five years ago and retired. When fellow spy and friend Nash (Carter MacIntyre, American Heiress) goes missing while on the trail of a Russian arms dealer, the Blooms are reinstated by boss Carlton Shaw (Gerald McRaney, Deadwood) to locate and rescue Nash. The pair is thrust back into the world of espionage as they follow leads that span the globe – and Steven and Samantha realize that this supercharged, undercover lifestyle provides the excitement and romance that their marriage has been missing. Undercovers is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television. The pilot was written by J.J. Abrams and Josh Reims and directed by Abrams. Abrams, Reims and Bryan Burk (Fringe, Lost, Alias) are the executive producers. Check out http://www.nbc.com/undercovers/ for more information.

NBC's The Cape. Photo copyright of NBC

The Cape is a one-hour drama series starring David Lyons (ER) as Vince Faraday, an honest cop on a corrupt police force, who finds himself framed for a series of murders and presumed dead. He is forced into hiding, leaving behind his wife, Dana (Jennifer Ferrin, Life On Mars) and son, Trip (Ryan Wynott, Flash Forward). Fueled by a desire to reunite with his family and to battle the criminal forces that have overtaken Palm City, Faraday becomes “The Cape,” his son’s favorite comic book superhero – and takes the law into his own hands. Rounding out the cast are James Frain (The Tudors) as billionaire Peter Fleming – The Cape’s nemesis – who moonlights as the twisted killer Chess; Keith David (Death at a Funeral) as Max Malini, the ringleader of a circus gang of bank robbers who mentors Vince Faraday and trains him to be The Cape; Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) as Orwell, an investigative blogger who wages war on crime and corruption in Palm City; and Dorian Missick (Six Degrees) as Marty Voyt, a former police detective and friend to Faraday. The Cape is a Universal Media Studios and BermanBraun production from executive producer/creator Thomas Wheeler (Empire), executive producer/director Simon West (Con Air), the executive producing team of Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun (NBC’s Mercy) and executive producer Gene Stein (Accidentally on Purpose). Check out http://www.nbc.com/the-cape/ for more information.

As noted above, all photos copyright of NBC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!